Friday, July 3, 2009

Having fun with the Columbia Students

Being in New York for the first time in my life was exiting! It's something not even in my wildest dreams I thought would ever happen! We visited Columbia and Barnard and I learned that if I want to go there I would need lots of bug repellent, because the mosquitoes were attracted to me and biting! On the way there I read the book "The Color of Water" to kill time. Unlike on the way back I was so tired that I only read two pages and fell fast asleep.
Visiting all these different campuses give me the privilege to figure out which school are for me and which aren't. Honestly I thought that Columbia would be a nice fit for me, but being there I wasn't really comfortable. The campus was beautiful but I could not imagine myself doing anything more than just visiting the campus.
I think that if more students from the district got to know more about these colleges or got to visit these different colleges more students would be applying to these excellent schools that are located in the East Coast and in the Mid-West. It surely has helped me begin to create a mini list of school I will be applying to this coming fall and which I won't be applying to.

Goodnight,
Carla Ramirez

1 comment:

Charles Tillman Ramsey said...

Thanks Carla for having the stamina to write a post. All of you had a wonderful and exhilirating day in New York City, I am glad that you felt compelled to share your initial views about Columbia.

Today you have a chance to visit Newport and I hope that you have a great time. Tomorrow you, Mercedes, and Ms. Kent will spend a day visiting some of the "seven sisters" and I hope that you bring a notepad and take a lot of notes. We want to share your experience with others who will attend the Brown Summer Studies Program next year. Also take some pictures with you and the others. I know that we want Ms. Pelly to be included in this project.

One thing that is vital to me is to hear your opinions about why you feel strongly about attending a woman's college. I feel that this is great, but I want to hear your reasoning. Please remember that we have two excellent women's colleges here in California, Mills which is right in our backyard, Oakland and Scripps College, which is part of the Claremont Colleges in southern Los Angeles County. I want you to think about visiting both of these campuses in the fall.

I will take you to Mills to give it a look. I also know an attorney who graduated from Mills. Ms. Kronenberg's daughter attends Pitzer and she may know some students at Scripps that may give you a campus tour. These are fantastic women's colleges that offer a great deal. Please work with Ms. Kim and get more information.

In reviewing your posts I still need more analysis about why you want a particular University. I have heard from Joseph about why Brown is such a fit. I have heard from Dennis about how large urban settings attract him and that is why he is strongly considering Harvard and Columbia. Well, I need for you to go "deeper" with your reasoning. It is not revealing for me when I read that "it does not feel right". What does that mean?

Does it mean, that you are not impressed with the campus or its appearance? I felt the same way when I was walking through Wellesley and looked at the Academic Quad. I said, "no way", but the reason that I felt this is because it came across that Wellesley is just about the academics.

Now do not get me wrong, I have no problem with that type of setting for others, but I am like Dennis, I need to have other outlets near by and the quiant shopping center did not do it for me. So, give us more rationale for your thoughts.

I do feel that visiting Smith College and Mt. Holyoke is fantastic. Please let me know how it goes.

Biology is not my cup of tea. I am glad that you have no problem with dissecting animals, but I want to learn about how this class compares with your AP Biology class at Richmond High School. Your answer should be more comprehensive than "There is no comparison". I would love to know why and what do you feel we need to do to make our classes more rigorous and to encourage other students to participate in Biology.

Let us and have a great day. It is a day to celebrate, it is our National Holiday. Enjoy the 4th of July!!

Charles T. Ramsey, Esq.
School Board Member
West Contra Costa
Unified School